Samba Card Game Score Sheet

Type each hand's sambas, canasta points, red threes and card points, or print it blank: the sheet totals to 10,000.

Samba Card Game Score Sheet

Samba game to 10,000

Samba game to 10,000: a column for each side. Totals fill in as scores are typed.
Side 1
Side 2
Side 3
Side 4
Side 5
Samba hand 11,500 for each samba, plus the canasta points (500 pure, 300 mixed), plus the red threes, plus the last box: 200 if the side went out and its cards melded less its cards left in hand. Red threes are 100 each, or 1,000 for all 6, when the row shows two sambas, two canastas (600 canasta points or more) or one of each; without them the sheet takes 100 off for each red three.
Samba hand 2
Samba hand 3
Samba hand 4
Samba hand 5
Samba hand 6
Samba hand 7
Samba hand 8
Samba hand 9
Samba hand 10
Samba hand 11
Samba hand 12
Samba game total, first past 10,000All hands so far

Type a score and the totals fill in. Highest total wins. First to 10,000 wins.

Scoring key

Samba: seven natural cards, one suit, in order 1,500
No wild cards, no threes, and nothing is added after the seventh card.
Pure canasta: seven of a rank, all natural 500
More cards may be added. A wild card added later makes it mixed.
Mixed canasta: at most two wild cards 300
A group must have two natural cards for each wild one.
Going out: two sambas, two canastas or one each 200
Worth 200, nothing extra for a concealed hand. No 200 if the stock runs dry.
Red threes in samba: 100 each, 1,000 for six 100 / 1,000
Only with the two sambas or canastas needed to go out. Without them, minus 100 each.
Red three still in a hand at the end −750
One penalty of 750, however many red threes that player holds.
Opening meld: 15 below zero, 50 up to 1,495 15 / 50
Card values only. Bonuses and red threes never count toward it.
Opening meld: 90 from 1,500, 120 from 3,000 90 / 120
It follows your own total, so two sides can need different amounts.
Opening meld with 7,000 or more 150
The top step of the five.
Samba card values, joker down to four 50/20/10/5
Joker 50. Two or ace 20. King to eight 10. Seven to four 5. Black three 5.
Samba ends at 10,000, checked after a hand 10,000
If more than one side is past 10,000, the highest total wins.
The pack: three decks and six jokers 162 cards
Deal 15 each, or 13 with six players. Draw two cards and discard one.

How each row scores

Samba hand
1,500 for each samba, plus the canasta points (500 pure, 300 mixed), plus the red threes, plus the last box: 200 if the side went out and its cards melded less its cards left in hand. Red threes are 100 each, or 1,000 for all 6, when the row shows two sambas, two canastas (600 canasta points or more) or one of each; without them the sheet takes 100 off for each red three.
Samba game total, first past 10,000
All hands so far

Names and scores stay in this browser. New game clears the scores.

Next step More games for card club nightTwo packs? Canasta score sheet

All 29 lines

Game sheet: one row per hand, to 10,000 2

  • Samba game total, first past 10,000 Every hand so far added together. The first side to reach 10,000 is marked. The hand in play is always finished and scored first, and if more than one side is past 10,000 the highest total wins.
  • Samba hand One row per hand. Type how many sambas your side finished, its canasta points, how many red threes it laid down, and the last box: 200 if your side went out, plus the cards it melded, minus the cards it was left holding. Only the last box has to be filled.

Count one hand: sambas, canastas, red threes 6

  • For the Canasta pts box: pure plus mixed The number that goes in the Canasta pts box of the game sheet.
  • Mixed canastas: one or two wild cards (300 each) Seven or more cards of one rank with one or two wild cards. A pure canasta that takes a wild card later counts here.
  • Pure canastas: no wild card inside (500 each) Seven or more cards of one rank with no two and no joker among them.
Show all 29 lines (24 more)

Count one hand: sambas, canastas, red threes, continued

  • Red threes beside your melds (how many) Type a number from 0 to 6. This line is only a count: the line under it turns the count into points.
  • Sambas: seven of a suit in sequence (1,500 each) Type how many your side finished. A samba is exactly seven natural cards of one suit in unbroken order, such as the 5 up to the jack of diamonds.
  • What those red threes are worth to your side Worked out from the lines above. With two sambas, two canastas or one of each, the red threes are 100 apiece and all six are 1,000. With fewer than that, each one costs 100.

Count one hand: going out and the cards 9

  • Caught holding red threes (750 a player) Type 750 for a player of your side who still holds a red three when the hand ends. It is one penalty however many that player holds. The sheet subtracts it.
  • For the Out + cards box of the game sheet Going out, plus the cards melded, minus the cards left and any 750 penalty. This is the number for the last box of the game sheet.
  • Jokers among your samba melds (50 each) Count the jokers in your groups and canastas. Three packs hold six.
  • Kings to eights in melds and sequences (10 each) Kings, queens, jacks, tens, nines and eights, wherever they lie: in a group, a canasta, a sequence or a samba.
  • Samba cards still in hand (taken off) Add up the cards your side still holds at the same values and type the total as a plain number. The sheet subtracts it. Leave red threes out of this line.
  • Samba hand total, every line counted Sambas, canasta points, red threes and the Out + cards line together. It matches what the game sheet shows for the hand.
  • Sevens to fours, and black threes (5 each) Sevens, sixes, fives and fours on the table, plus any black threes melded on the turn your side went out.
  • Twos and aces in melds and sequences (20 each) Every two and every ace on the table in front of your side. A two is wild and still worth 20. An ace can sit at the top of a sequence.
  • Went out this hand (200, otherwise 0) The side that goes out takes 200. A concealed hand earns nothing extra, and nobody takes the 200 when the hand ends because the stock ran dry.

Scoring key 12

  • Going out: two sambas, two canastas or one each Worth 200, nothing extra for a concealed hand. No 200 if the stock runs dry.
  • Mixed canasta: at most two wild cards A group must have two natural cards for each wild one.
  • Opening meld with 7,000 or more The top step of the five.
  • Opening meld: 15 below zero, 50 up to 1,495 Card values only. Bonuses and red threes never count toward it.
  • Opening meld: 90 from 1,500, 120 from 3,000 It follows your own total, so two sides can need different amounts.
  • The pack: three decks and six jokers Deal 15 each, or 13 with six players. Draw two cards and discard one.
  • Pure canasta: seven of a rank, all natural More cards may be added. A wild card added later makes it mixed.
  • Red three still in a hand at the end One penalty of 750, however many red threes that player holds.
  • Red threes in samba: 100 each, 1,000 for six Only with the two sambas or canastas needed to go out. Without them, minus 100 each.
  • Samba card values, joker down to four Joker 50. Two or ace 20. King to eight 10. Seven to four 5. Black three 5.
  • Samba ends at 10,000, checked after a hand If more than one side is past 10,000, the highest total wins.
  • Samba: seven natural cards, one suit, in order No wild cards, no threes, and nothing is added after the seventh card.

How this list was compiled: Written for this site. Samba is a traditional three-pack member of the canasta family. Checked on 2026-09-18 and again on 2026-09-19 against https://www.pagat.com/rummy/samba.html (the Dutch game, from a contribution by Harrie Wiering): 162 cards as three packs with 6 jokers, 2 to 6 players with partnerships at 4 and 6, 15 cards each and 13 with six players, draw two and discard one, card values of 50, 20, 10 and 5 with the black three at 5, black threes melded only on the turn a player goes out, sequences of natural cards with the seven-card samba at 1,500, no wild cards or threes in a samba and nothing added to one, the five sambas of a suit from 4-10 to 8-ace, at most two wild cards in a group and twice as many natural cards as wild ones, pure canasta 500 and mixed canasta 300, cards added beyond seven and a wild card turning a pure canasta mixed, going out with two sambas, two canastas or one of each for 200, no going-out bonus when the stock runs out, no concealed bonus mentioned, red threes at 100 each and 1,000 for all six only with the two sambas or canastas needed to go out and otherwise 100 off for each, 750 off for red threes left in a hand whatever their number, the opening melds of 15, 50, 90, 120 and 150 with bonuses and red threes not counting toward them, and the game to 10,000 checked at the end of a hand with the highest total winning. Checked the same days against https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samba_%28card_game%29, which redirects to the Samba section of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canasta: three decks and 162 cards, 15 cards dealt, two cards drawn each turn, a sequence of seven is a samba worth 1,500, two wild cards at most in a meld, six red threes worth 1,000, an opening meld of 150 at 7,000 or more, and a game to 10,000. Pagat does not say what six red threes cost a side without its two sambas or canastas, so the sheet takes 100 off for each, as the text reads. The caps on the boxes (12 sambas, 11 pure and 18 mixed canastas, 1,770 card points in the pack) are our arithmetic from the pack and are tested. Licence: own work

How it works

This samba card game score sheet keeps a game to 10,000 one hand at a time. It pays 1,500 a samba, decides whether red threes count for or against you, and marks the first side to 10,000. All 12 hand rows are on the sheet. Add a hand under the last gives one more.

Read the full guide

Four small boxes for each hand

Type a name over Side 1 and Side 2, one column per partnership. Three or five players each play alone, so press the + after the last column. Sambas and Red 3s each take a count. Canasta pts takes 500 for each pure canasta and 300 for each mixed. Out + cards is one number: 200 if you went out, plus cards melded, minus cards left in hand. It can be negative. New game clears the scores and keeps the names. Undo brings them back.

When red threes turn against you

Red threes are 100 each, and all six are 1,000, but only with what it takes to go out. That is, two sambas, two canastas, or a samba and a canasta. The sheet reads that from the row: one samba with 300 canasta points will do, and so will 600 canasta points. Anything less and each red three costs 100. A red three still in hand at the end is 750 off: take it out of Out + cards.

  • Print blank sheet gives a samba score sheet on Letter or A4 with the opening melds, 15 up to 150, in the key.
  • Press Count one samba hand, line by line above the sheet. It counts melded cards by rank and gives the numbers for Canasta pts and Out + cards.
  • Canasta pts takes sums of 500s and 300s, so 400 or 700 is flagged and still kept.

Questions and answers

Do the cards inside a samba count as well as the 1,500?

They do: the 1,500 sits on top of the card points. A samba from the 8 up to the ace is 1,500 plus 80 in card points. Count it under Sambas and add the 80 to your melded cards in Out + cards.

What about super samba?

Super samba's scoring could not be checked against a reliable source, so nothing here describes it. To use the sheet as a plain ledger, work out each hand from your group's rule card. Leave the first three boxes empty and type the whole figure under Out + cards. Above 1,970 it is flagged and still counted.

How does samba scoring differ from canasta?

Three packs and six jokers make 162 cards, and the game runs to 10,000 instead of 5,000. Seven cards of a suit in sequence are a samba worth 1,500. Going out needs two sambas or canastas and pays 200.

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